Agenda item

Councillor Maureen Penny (Cabinet Member for Transport and the Environment), was in attendance and presented to the Committee a report summarising progress and performance in respect of the service areas within her portfolio of responsibility.

The key objectives and role of the Cabinet Member for Transport and the Environment are to:

1)    Provide the strategic direction for the Council’s StreetSmart, rubbish collection, and recycling services.

2)    Set the priorities for the maintenance of the highways network.

3)    To provide overall political leadership for the Demand Management within the portfolio.

4)    Ensure that the Council's agreed priorities within the portfolio are delivered.

The Cabinet Member for Transport and the Environment has the following delegated responsibilities:

• Traffic and Transport Forward Planning (including Local Transport Plan and Implementation of Local Transport Plan).
• Strategic Highways & Maintenance Works.
• Car Parks and Bus Gates.
• Building community capacity.
• Public Transport (including Concessionary Fares, Specialist Transport, Council Transport and Fleet Management).
• Political oversight of Waterside Depot, including Household Waste Recycling Centre.
• Recycling and Refuse Collection – Domestic & Trade.
• Waste Disposal / Waste Minimisation.
• Street Lighting [maintenance and strategic].
• Street Cleaning including removal of graffiti and abandoned vehicles.
• StreetSmart.
• Public Toilets.
• Ground & Tree Maintenance and open spaces.
• Parks (StreetSmart services only).
• Playgrounds, including those that are not presently utilised.
• Maintenance of Roundabouts and non-HRA verges.
• Building & Engineering.
• Building Services, cleaning, catering & security services.
• Gullies and drainage, minor road repairs, potholes.

In overseeing these areas, the Cabinet Member for Transport and the Environment is responsible for delivering the following Priorities and Pledges of Swindon’s Vision:

·         Pledge 3. Refresh and implement the Masterplan for Swindon Town Centre, supporting our vision that Swindon is a vibrant, modern place. We will do this through delivering improvements to the strategic town centre transport network.

·         Pledge 5. Enhance Wellington Street as a prime thoroughfare for the town.

·         Pledge 14. Encourage Swindon residents to increase recycling and reduce their waste in line with the Council’s Waste Strategy. Swindon Borough Council to reduce the use of single use plastics with the intention to stop using such plastics by 2019/20 and encourage local businesses to do the same.

Councillor Penny responded to questions put by Councillors Steve Allsopp, Emma Bushell,Matthew Courtliff, Emma Faramarzi, Jim Grant, Vinay Manro, Jane Milner-Barry, James Robbins, Carol Shelley,Timothy Swinyard, Vera Tomlinson and the Chair on the following matters:

·         How missed collections are classified using industry standards, allowing for comparisons with other authorities. 

·         That where a number of waste bins were not collected and the reason why is known (such as a blocked road for example), it is not counted as missed collections. Information is then placed on the website to advise those residents about what to do and when their bins will be collected. The Committee noted that unjustified missed collections are where householders have put their bin out late, or it is contaminated, and so it has not been collected.

·         How information on why a particular bin is not collected is fed back to householders via notes through their door or stickers placed on bins, or by speaking to the caretaker or housing company in blocks of flats. Waste Wardens will also pay visits when there are reoccurring issues.

·         The plans for achieving a 50% recycling rate by the end of the current year which includes food waste collection being rolled out across Swindon, stronger enforcement on the compulsory recycling policy introduced in 2019, and improved communications to residents on waste and recycling.  

·         The current Council policy to collect recycling bins that contain mixed waste, with advisory notes being placed on them asking for separation. 

·         The work currently being undertaken to review school safety zones across the Borough, the outcome from which is expected to be available by the end of February 2020. 

·         The consideration being given to installing posts that contain electric vehicle charging points within them as part of the proposals to upgrade street lanterns to LEDs across the Borough.

·         That the pothole fund has been retained by government, and that the Council has been successful so far in securing grant funding across the highways and transport portfolio for strategic projects and maintenance. The Committee noted that should future funding become available officers will seek to exploit those opportunities.

·         The risk based approach taken to asset management – in particular highway condition – to respond to unexpected issues requiring maintenance work (beyond potholes) and to prioritise work accordingly.

·         The work being currently undertaken to review the Council’s highways assets with the aim of creating a risk and condition ranked asset register, logged on to the newly procured electronic asset management system. 

·         The review currently underway on the Council’s car parks, looking in particular at how car parking can enable the wider objectives for town centre regeneration, the findings from which are expected in May 2020. 

·         How pricing mechanisms (calculating a price and usage to give an optimum figure) are currently only in place for multi-storey car parks. 

·         The planned audit of on street parking opportunities as part of the review of the car parking strategy within the town centre to ensure that any proposals are evidence based.

·         That the Council is not currently lobbying government for the introduction of means testing for free bus passes. 

·         How information breaking down what happens to all waste, including recycling collected from households, will be made available soon.

·         That Dial A Ride did not bid for the new contract for community transport services which has instead been awarded to Access. It has committed to offering the same operating hours and no change of service to its wheelchair users. The Committee noted that as part of the tender assessment process Access confirmed it will keep its vehicles in a secure off road area, and written confirmation that this is happening will be circulated subsequent to the meeting.

·         Whether the fastest 15% of vehicles are counted when compiling data on average speeds on a given road, information on which will be circulated subsequent to the meeting.

·         The zero impact on recycling rates from introducing charges for recycling boxes, and the responsibility for bearing the cost of a replacement when a box is damaged.

·         How all plastics collected (in the correct single use bag) are sent to Thamesdown to be recycled, with none going in to a Refuse Derived Fuel Plant or being sent abroad. The Committee noted that the single use plastic bag is used to enable the waste collectors to determine if contaminates are present, but that work done on the ten year plan for waste will look at this as part of the overall long term plan for plastics recycling.

·         How the mixed product collected at kerbside (containing different types of plastic polymer) is low value, with additional costs also being generated from separation. The Committee noted that kerbside separation would achieve maximum value, and that awareness would have to be improved in the 22% of residents who do not currently know what can / cannot be recycled.

·         The acquisition by the Council of an RT7000 machine to recycle plastics, which it is suggested could help reduce costs and also generate income.  

·         The consideration being given to government plans for taxing waste that does not include 30% recycled plastic, making manufacturers responsible for packaging throughout its lifespan, and preventing local authorities from shipping plastic waste abroad.

·         How drivers are monitored via the trackers placed in all vehicles owned by the Council to ensure their and other road users safety.

·         The first tranche of electric vehicles currently being introduced in to the Council’s fleet.

·         How a key message for residents is to recycle plastic bottles.

·         The predicted timescales for the major projects planned for the A420 and the relocation of the rail station.  

Resolved – (1) That Councillor Penny be thanked for attending the meeting to present her performance report and for her full and open responses to members’ questions and observations on the issues raised.

(2) That information requested by members during the course of the Committee’s consideration of this item be forwarded to them via the Committee Clerk.